Chicago, Ill. - The Thunder men's basketball team rode a hot-shooting second half to a 95-53 rout of North Park on Saturday night. The victory moves Wheaton to 16-6 overall and 9-4 in CCIW play while the Vikings fall ot 5-17 and 1-12 in conference action. The victory sets up a crucial week of home games for the Thunder with Wheaton set to host Carthage at 7 pm in Wednesday night and North Central at 7 pm on Saturday night as the Thunder battle both teams for a spot in the upcoming CCIW Tournament.

Wheaton continued its hot shooting from Wednesday night, and for the second straight game, shot better than 50% from the field. The Thunder converted on 53.6% (37-69) of its field goal attempts and shot 46.7% (14-30) from the three-point line. Despite only nine free throw attempts, the Thunder made seven for a 77.8% clip. North Park shot 32.1% (18-56) from the field and only 25% (6-24) from beyond the arc. The Vikings were successful on 78.6% (11-14) of their free throw attempts. Wheaton dominated the rebounding battle, owning a 52-20 advantage on the glass including a 15-3 edge in offensive rebounds.

The visitors never trailed in Saturday night's game, taking the lead twenty seconds into the game on an Aston Francis jumper. North Park would hang around early but a 10-0 Thunder run in the middle of the first half put the Thunder ahead 27-11 after consecutive three-pointers by Ricky Samuelson. Wheaton pushed the lead to as many as 19 points  at the 6:29 mark but North Park charged back into the game with 11 unanswered points to cut the lead to 35-27.  Wheaton answered with four straight points and closed the half strong to lead 42-31 at halftime.

An early three-pointer by Francis in the second half started an 8-0 Thunder run to open the second half and opened a 51-31 lead four minutes into the half. The Thunder extended the run to a 24-4 spurt with Francis ran off 10 straight points, pushing the Thunder lead to 66-35.

Tyrel Derrick's three-pointer pushed Wheaton's lead up to 39 points with 6:14 to play, capping a 12-point Thunder run. Wheaton the lead to as many as 44 points on lay-ups by Jack Bennett and Mark Champion over the closing minutes en route to the 95-53 victory.

For the second straight game, Aston Francis led all scorers with 36 points and added a team-high 12 rebounds for a double-double. Kobe Eichelberger also recorded a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Samuelson was a perfect five-for-five from beyond the three-point line en route to a 21 point performance. Collin Lake led the Vikings with 19 points.

Wheaton will be back in action on Wednesday night, when Wheaton welcomes Carthage to King Arena for a 7 pm tipoff.

Note Worthy: With his 21 points, Ricky Samuelson moved past Ned Gulbransen into 30th on the career scoring list...Samuelson's five three-pointers moved him past head coach Mike Schauer into ninth on the career list with 173 made three-pointers...With his seven three-pointers tonight Aston Francis moves past Ronn Smith into third on the career list with 197 career made three-pointers...the seven three-pointers for Francis also broke the CCIW record for single-season three-pointers made in conference play. Francis had set the CCIW record last year with 57 made three-pointers in CCIW games.